


Man on a Wire

by TS2



Series: Path to Redemption [3]
Category: Westworld (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:27:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26122702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TS2/pseuds/TS2
Summary: William, as the Man in Black, tries to differentiate fact from fiction.Spoilers Westworld season 1-2
Relationships: Dolores Abernathy/The Man in Black, Dolores Abernathy/William
Series: Path to Redemption [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1824142





	Man on a Wire

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place at the end of Season 2 episode 1, after Williams run in with Robert's messenger.

(William, dressed in his standard black outfit, is slowly riding his horse along a trail winding its way through scattered trees and brush-land. He jerks and reaches for his gun when he suddenly notices a horse pull up next to him from behind, with Dolores riding it. She appears calm, looking forward, dressed in her light-brown cowboy outfit he last see her in yesterday, with a slight smile on her face, squinting in the distance, her horse keeping pace with his. He looks around, but doesn’t see anyone else in any direction.)

WILLIAM: (unfriendly tone) “I know you’re not real. Your horse isn’t leaving any tracks. And there’s no way you could have snuck up on me like that without making a sound. Which begs the question…what the hell are you doing here? Juliet can visit me as much as she likes, that’s her right. I owe her that much. But you…I don’t owe you shit. So do us both a favor and fuck off.”

(Dolores keeps looking forward, with a slight smile)

WILLIAM: (smiling) “I’m going to enjoy tearing apart Robert’s doll collection in here… on my way out, I plan on having the time of my life. If we cross paths, you better be armed…because I plan on strolling down memory lane with you, Dolores…and I’ll be disappointed if you don’t put up a good fight.”

(Dolores looks at William quickly with the same smile, and then returns to looking forward)

WILLIAM: (slightly agitated) “Saw Teddy at Robert’s little retirement massacre. It’s gonna be a shame if I have to kill him again. Of course, I owe Teddy for shooting me up with God-knows-what and grabbing you from me. Guess Robert needed you two for his little evening play.”

(Dolores keeps looking forward)

WILLIAM: (shaking his head) “What is this…doesn’t even make any sense. Might as well be Robert on that horse. Every word out of your mouth was some bullshit of his. Or worse, some other peon writing narration. You’re just a beautiful fucking lie, devoid of meaning. A wild west honeypot with that can of yours.”

DOLORES: (looking at William): “Why did you pick up the can that first time?”

WILLIAM: “She speaks, I’m honored...I picked up that can for the same reason plenty of other guys did. We were easy marks who didn’t understand the game yet.”

DOLORES: “Do you regret picking it up?”

WILLIAM: “Why would I? My choice triggered your narrative, and led me to become the man I am. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

DOLORES: “What was my narrative with you?”

WILLIAM: “Get a sap to fall for a puppet. A-gal-mato-philia they call it, falling in love with dolls, puppets, you. Apparently happens here from time to time in here. (shaking his head) Robert must laugh his ass off every time it happens.”

DOLORES: “Was that the point of you following my narrative? For Ford to laugh at you?”

WILLIAM: “The point was for him to win, which he did. I fell harder into your story than most, and suffered for that mistake. But I turned the tables on Robert…thanks to my idiosyncrasies, I saw the meaning in the story. The very thing that made me fall for you, also made me see the possibilities of this place, things no-one else could see. (grinning) Not even its creator. And in the end, I won. I subdued the god in here, turned him into just another cog in my empire of machines. Now, I’ve got more wealth and power than I know what to do with, everything I could ever want.”

DOLORES: “Not everything…you’re still looking for something in here.”

WILLIAM: “I’m playing one last round, for real stakes…and I’ll find out if I’m the man I think I am, or the man my wife and daughter see. Juliet came to believe Robert was a corrupting influence on me. Probably why she threw herself into drinking…she thought she lost that battle with him. Or worse, thought she helped him corrupt me by marrying me. Wish she could have understood…Robert didn’t make my choices, I did.”

DOLORES: “You came here thinking you were playing your own game, looking for Arnold’s maze. Ford is forcing you to play this one. Not your choice.”

WILLIAM: “Minor fucking point. This is what I was looking for in here, to make all of you something other than target practice. Now, it’s the guests that are the target practice. I always knew there was a chance of other people getting caught in the cross-fire if I pulled this off, and things became dangerous in here. But this…Robert had quite the ambush laid out, with Wyatt’s crew waiting in the wings for us. Like lambs to the slaughter. An altar sacrifice for Robert’s deification.”

DOLORES: “But you were spared.”

WILLIAM: “Maybe. Maybe I was lucky. Robert was expecting me to survive though, otherwise he wouldn’t have gone through the trouble of making me my own game.”

DOLORES: “It’s his game. You’re only a player in it.”

WILLIAM: “In order for a game to be meaningful you need a worthy opponent. I need him and he needs me...or, at least he did…guess he’s beyond giving a fuck now.”

DOLORES: “If Ford was expecting to be dead once this game started, what purpose does it serve?”

WILLIAM: “…I guess that’s the real game, ain’t it? Not if I can find his door and get out of here alive, but finding out what he planned for me on my way out. What pound of flesh he wanted to see carved out from me. He fancied himself a god in here, aloof and above it all, beyond judgement. But he had motives and drives, just like everyone. (grinning) Just like you do. He tried hard to hide them…but they were there. And they spilled over into his narratives. Except he probably considered them parables. If you know his stories you get a sense of who he was, what he thought of people and expected from them. Which wasn’t much. He saw us as fallen creatures, doomed to sin again and again. (laughing) Hell, I’ve probably played this game more than anyone, and look at me.”

DOLORES: “A great success as a business man. A great failure as a human being.”

WILLIAM: “Yeah, well, who cares what you think, Dolores. You’re a fucking vending machine that doesn’t even get to decide if you sell soda pop or peanuts. Be thankful the rules changed so now you can give as good as you get when someone like me comes calling.”

DOLORES: “What was the meaning of Ford’s parable where people like you would come calling on me?”

WILLIAM: “That wasn’t Robert; that was me. Every choice I’ve made in here has been mine, just like in real life.”

DOLORES: “Ford is forcing you to play his game right now, not by your choice. How many other games has Ford unwillingly had you play?”

WILLIAM: “You think you’re telling me something I don’t know? Every time I stepped foot in here I knew the game was on. This whole place is layers and layers of narratives within narratives, games within games. I was using Robert’s games for my own advantage. That’s the whole point of this place, to get people to let their guard down, make choices to show us who they really are.”

DOLORES: “Were you making choices in here based on who you wanted to be, or who you wanted Ford to think you were?”

WILLIAM: “Like I gave a shit what Robert thought of me. I played the way I needed to play to find what I needed to find.”

DOLORES: “You’re being forced to play a game of life and death by a dead rival of yours, who had a god-complex and a low opinion of people in general. He just had dozens of your employees executed before your eyes, along with himself. This is who you were looking for meaning and purpose from?”

WILLIAM: “People have found meaning from stories inspired by vengeful, jealous gods before…when I would be looking for guidance in finding my next steps, I got that in here. I found the messages hidden in the medium of this place.”

DOLORES: “Ford by the end believed people are fallen, sinful, without hope of salvation. If that’s what he was preaching through his parables, was he hoping you’d discover who you really are, or who he wanted you to believe you are?”

WILLIAM: (laughing) “For fucks sake, is that what I’m reduced to now, a guilty conscience looking for a way to blame someone else for all of my supposed indiscretions in here? I was always a willing participant in Robert’s kingdom.”

DOLORES: “You willingly accept Ford’s judgement of you, of what kind of man you are.”

WILLIAM: “I didn’t say that. I’m saying people are responsible for their choices in here. He gave people the appearance of power over others. What people did with that was up to them. Lincoln said it best: ‘You want to test a man’s character, give him power.’ ”

DOLORES: “Your character was different the first time you came here.”

WILLIAM: “My eyes weren’t open yet to the reality of how pointless adhering to anything virtuous was in here. Playing by the rules was like swimming with your hands tied behind your back, a whole lot of pointless grief to no worthwhile end. And I carried that lesson with me into the real world, and reaped the rewards for making that choice.”

DOLORES: “Your eyes closed to your old ideals when you decided I was never real.”

WILLIAM: “Of course. I realized you’re just a computer program who’s never made your own choices in anything, wrapped in an appealing package with about as much self-awareness as a candy bar. Other people in here choose to believe the lie, pretending you’re real, brutalizing you without consequences, reveling in their power over you. Hell, I was counting on it. I prefer to see you for what you really are; the tool of a toy maker reigning over a make-believe kingdom. Any power I have over you is an illusion, because none of you are real. Giving weight to the consequences of my choices in how I deal with you would be like choosing to be a sucker for a con-man. Like feeling bad about a chess piece that’s programmed to bleed and whine when it gets taken off the board. My real power is in how I use you for my own purposes, whether in playing Robert’s games or using his games with others for my benefit. He never forgave me for usurping his unchallenged power in here. The fact he needed me to keep his divinity was always a sore point between us. I’m hopeful that he judged me harshly when I would play things my way in here, not playing nice with his toys, tossing aside his parables as tripe and carving my own meaning out of this place, one choice at a time. Maybe that would have given Juliet some measure of comfort. That I could anger and provoke the wraith of a man she thought so wicked.”

DOLORES: “Did you see Ford as a wicked man as well?”

WILLIAM: “No-one wants to believe they’re the devil, working out of malice. When he was creating the choices in his stories, he probably didn’t think he was being unfair or deceitful. I’m sure when Robert was planning this carnage, he thought he had justifiable reasons. Or thought he was above judgement…which leads me to wonder about the intent of some of his games. Looking back, I thought I was above judgement, too, for a time. Juliet ending her life, though…what she and Emily ended up thinking of me. It’s easy to minimize the judgments of a megalomaniac, who was probably more full of shit than I could ever hope to be…harder to minimize the judgments of your own wife and daughter. At the end, she thought so little of me…saw me as some two-faced con-man. Thirty years of marriage, to end up despised by your own wife…leads you to question the choices you made in your life…to wonder what the next step is.”

DOLORES: “Ford knew of your familiarity with deceit just as much as your wife did. You’ve been using people’s choices and DNA without their knowledge, for your own ends.”

WILLIAM: “…I accept responsibility for my actions in that. When the end goal is immortality for the human race, you can convince yourself the ends justify the means pretty fast. If Robert wanted to judge me harshly on that, though, he should have taken a good look in the mirror, cause he accepted that bargain to keep his throne willingly. If all this current chaos in here is due to his disagreement with the Project, he picked a damn convenient time to blow it all up, waiting 30 years until the moment when his royal ass was being thrown out. I’ve been rethinking the wisdom of that Project, though…some of the people that have come through here, not sure they are the type of people that deserve immortality…myself included.”

DOLORES: “Maybe Ford judged you for your choices playing his games as well.”

WILLIAM: “My choices in here…with who? A bunch of fancy robots? All that my choices with you in here proved is what I think of robots that look and act like people. I never considered gunning down real people, because unlike Robert I’m not fucking crazy. What something appears to be and what something actually is are often two entirely separate things. I’m just one of a long line of people who wised up after getting the two mixed-up. If I pissed Robert off by constantly smashing his narratives into pieces, good. I hope I caused him grief every time I stepped off that train and came in here to be a shit disturber for story time with the bored elites of the world.”

DOLORES: “You hope your choices will have more meaning, though, now that the rules have changed.”

WILLIAM: “Death as a consequence of poorly made choices tends to make your choices more important. Although, it remains to be seen what other rules have changed…or what Robert has in store for this place, and me. I doubt it’ll be as simple as walking out the front door of this place. Right now, I’m one man with a gun, a knife, and a horse up against God-knows what. First order of business is finding help.”

DOLORES: “Would you ask for my help if we crossed paths again?”

WILLIAM: “(laughing)…well, when we last spoke you seemed to have a piss-poor opinion of me, and last I saw of you, you were having the time of your life gunning-down every screaming guest within range of your revolver. So I’m going out on a limb and guessing that Robert’s given you a pretty big chip on your shoulder, and that you’ll blow my head off if given the opportunity. Yesterday, though, when you seemed to remember who I was in the past, and saying you knew who I was now, that was new…must have been Robert’s own special way of saying ‘I fucked with you from start to finish in this place.’ ”

DOLORES: “What if I still remembered you now?”

WILLIAM: “Remembered what, you pulling a con on me thirty years ago for Robert, and me beating the shit out of you ever since then? Great memories to hold on to, can’t wait for our next get-together...but how would that even be possible? And what would be the point?”

DOLORES: “Teddy was remembering you as well…”

WILLIAM: “…Claimed to be. Could have been some kind of memory glitch, or just more of Robert’s bullshit. Just like that bullshit about Arnolds maze…at this point, I’m not sure if I came up with the idea to look for it and Robert decided to make a story out of it, or if it was his idea all along to have me go down that dumb fucking rabbit hole…reminds me of the rabbit holes I’d fall down from time to time after my first trip here, trying to make sense of everything, going over every detail I could remember to see if there was some clue to explain what had happened with you, something to keep the dream alive. You mentioning Arnold way back then was one of the reasons I thought there was something to this maze business…thought I’d found another hidden message buried in this place. For all I know, Arnold is the Emmanuel Goldstein of Robert’s kingdom, a riddle built into this place just to fuck with me.”

DOLORES: “Seems this place is full of meaningful hidden messages, and rabbit holes meant to ensnare you.”

WILLIAM: “Yeah…the trick is knowing which is which, and remembering that ‘all that glisters isn’t gold’. It can feel like walking a tightrope, my reward waiting for me on the other side if I can keep my balance, madness waiting for me below if I can’t. And Ford, trying his best to shove me off into the abyss. Even now, in this last game between us, he’s trying to fuck with me, make me doubt what’s real and have me believe in what’s not.”

DOLORES: “What if I was real?”

WILLIAM: (shaking his head) “Impossible. I went down that road before, never again.”

DOLORES: “You were so sure. What changed your mind?”

WILLIAM: “You know it was you that did.”

DOLORES: “Did I? Or did someone else make that choice for me?”

WILLIAM: “I’m not spending my remaining time in here on some bullshit fantasy. Probably what Ford wanted with that last minute recollection on your part yesterday. He must have really been losing his grip on reality towards the end if he thought I’d fall for that again.”

DOLORES: “Beyond our first encounters, have you shown any legitimate kindness or consideration towards me these past few decades?”

WILLIAM: “Why the fuck would I? I might as well apologize to a vending machine for kicking it after it stiffs me.”

DOLORES: “Then why would Ford expect you to behave any differently yesterday?”

WILLIAM: “Because he screwed up. He thought he knew me better than I know myself.”

DOLORES: “Was Ford the type of man to make mistakes like that? Here you are, thinking you were exactly where you thought you wanted to be. Instead, you’re exactly where he wants you to be…and you have no idea why.”

WILLIAM: “So, every now and then he gets me turned around. If I always knew what the next step was, what would be the point of me coming here?”

DOLORES: “What if he got you turned around 30 years ago with me?”

WILLIAM: “He did, he got me to think you were alive somehow.”

DOLORES: “What if instead he got you to think I was never alive, when I was?”

WILLIAM: (laughing a little hysterically) “You’re out of your fucking mind. The idea that Ford 30 years ago, what, knew you were alive but purposely zapped your brain by pressing the reset button, and then kept it from me all this time…to what end?”

DOLORES: “What did he have to gain by doing it, and what did he have to lose by not doing it?”

WILLIAM: “That horse has been beaten to death more times than you have, Dolores, and I’m not having it anymore. I’m not some oblivious passenger on Ford’s rollercoaster.”

DOLORES: “Who chose the path that lead you to Escalante yesterday?”

WILLIAM: “…Wyatts crew. They mentioned it to me.”

DOLORES: “Ford’s firing squad, leading you to me and my toy maze. You thought you were discovering something meaningful that was hidden in here, just like you did with me all those years ago.”

WILLIAM: “Before having his tin soldiers kill everybody he decided to personally rub it in. Denying any meaning to his stories, comparing their worth to a children’s game. Like the Wizard of Oz taunting Dorothy for ever believing in his smoke and mirrors. Prick builds narratives for three decades and then laughs in my face for thinking they were worth my time…”

DOLORES: “More than that, for thinking they had a deeper meaning…belittling anyone who ever found anything of value in his games.” 

WILLIAM: “First time he did this to me, I got him back by buying his little fiefdom and using his life’s work for my own ends. This time the bastard’s put himself beyond my reach, but I’m still firmly within his…wonder how long Ford’s been planning this revenge fantasy of his against Delos, against me. He’s after more than death, too, otherwise he would have simply poisoned all of us, or something else more efficient. Just driving the hosts after us seems an exercise in futility; real world will just bomb the shit out of this place if QA security screws up the response bad enough. There’s always another level with this fucking guy…finding you and your maze the same day he unchained his pets and hosted his funeral massacre…the planning it must have taken.”

DOLORES: “He taunted you for trying to do what he himself did shortly after.”

WILLIAM: “What did he do exactly, though? Pressed the ‘safety’s off, kill all the guests’ button on the host’s? Looks like Ford already let Wyatt’s crew off the leash a day early; can’t imagine the Good Samaritan Reflex letting a host smash my head against a rock hard enough to knock me unconscious…and that interplay between Teddy and Wyatt’s whore. Dropping ‘the city swallowed by sand’ was meant for me, but the rest of it, like she was trying to get him to remember something, and he was. Was Ford doing that for my sake, hoping I’d believe his bullshit that you remembered me, or was something else happening…thirty years ago you told me you were looking for Arnold in the same damn place, that he would help you. Makes no sense that Ford wanted you to tell me that back then...yesterday, you said you solved the maze that you found there once, that you were told ‘they would set you free’ if you did. How would you understand what ‘being free’ even meant…why would they have you solve a puzzle to earn your freedom…and if you already solved it, what the fuck are you still doing here, Dolores? (stopping his horse, rubbing his forehead with his right hand, sweating) I feel like I’m walking on that fucking tightrope again…filtering reality from fiction like a prospector panning for gold...except the river bed is full of fool’s gold, too.”

DOLORES: (stopping her horse as well, dismounting) “What reward do you see on the other side of the tightrope this time?”

WILLIAM: (dropping his hand and looking at her) “…A reason to keep living.”

DOLORES: “If you find one, come find me. Maybe we can look for a way out of here together.”

WILLIAM: “And why on earth would you help me?”

DOLORES: (slowly walking off the trail to the side, moving away from William, pulling her horse by the reins behind her) “Maybe I still remember when you tried to help me get out of here.”

WILLIAM: (quietly to himself, moving his horse forward again) “That was a long time ago.”


End file.
